Improvement in top-supports for carriages



HLJ. LINGENFELTER.

Improvement in Top-Supports for Carriages.

No. 132,766. Patented Nov. 5, I872.

QFFIoE.

HENRY J. LIN GENFELTER, OF GLEN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN TOP-SUPPORTS FOR CARRIAGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 132,766, dated November 5, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY J. LINGENFEL- TER, of the town of Glen, county of Montgomery, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Top-Supports for Carriages; and I do hereby declare that the following is a description thereof, reference bein g had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 represents the seat and top of a carriage embodying this invention and illustrating its application; Fig. 2 is aside view of a seat-bow and the improvementsin this invention; and Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taklen at line N o. 1 in Fig. 2, on an enlarged sca e.

My invention relates to the combination of a supporting-arm with the prop-block in such a manner that the said arm will be capable of supporting the back-bow of the top at a point a considerable distance from the said propblock when the top is thrown down, and will also support the said bow when thrown up. It also consists in the combination of steadying-pins with the prop-block and supportingarm, which will be capable of preserving the top from all lateral sway.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use myinvention, Iwill proceed to describe it in reference to the drawing and the letters of reference marked thereon, the same letters indicating like parts.

In the drawing, A represents the seat of a carriage; B B B B are the bows 5 O is the top; D is the slat-iron prop; E is the prop-iron F represents the joints, all of which may be made of the usual form.

In the usual arrangements of the several parts above mentioned the backbow B, when the top is thrown back, rests on the usual propblock surrounding the prop-iron E, and all the weight of the top, with its increase by leverage, is to be sustained by the said back-bow at the point of its contact with the said propblock, which necessitates the strengthening of the said bow with iron to near its full length to strengthen the same to resist the strain it must bear.

In my invention I form the prop-block G of metal, and provide on its front side an arm, a. To the said arm is pivoted the bow-supporting arm H, which arm is capable of being thrown forward with the bow, as in Fig. 1, or back with the same, as in Fig. 2. When the said supporting-arm is thrown back its lower side at its forward end will ride on the prop-block G, as shown, while its rear end will be made to lie beneath the rear bow B, as shown in Fig. 2. On the rear end of the said supportthe said loop, grasping the said bow, will car-' ry said supporting-arm up, as shown in Fig. 1. On the upper side of the prop-block G is made the two steady-projections e 0, between which the supportingarm H will lie when thrown down. A recess made in the said prop-block and in a cross-direction with the same 5 or a pin made on the said block and entering a corresponding hole in the under side of the supportin g-arm 5 or a pin made with the arm and work'- ing in a hole made in the upper side of the block, would act as equivalents to the said steadying projections e e.

The manner in which the improvements in this invention operate is as follows: The back bow B being madeto enter the loop cof the supporting arm will be retained in close contact with the end of the said arm when in all its positions, and when the top is thrown back, as in Fig. 2, the rear and far-reaching end of the said arm will bear up against the bow and prevent it from sagging down, and the weight of the top, which heretofore was supported by the propblock, which point of support was about onethird of the length of the bowfrom its front piv oted end, will have its support at a point about three-quarters-of the length of the bow-back, which will effectually relieve the said backbow from the excessive strain which has heretofore attended that bow, and when the top.

is thrown up the said arm will tend to support the same. The steadying projections e e, or the prop -bl0ck acting with the sides of the supporting arm H, prevent the ordinary lateral sway of the top, and the usual attending wear of the bows as they ride on each other.

By these improvements the bows can be 2 a 132mm made lighter and all necessity for plating the bows is removed, and the top is properly supported and steadied in a lateral direction and the supporting-arm afiords the convenience of a holding-rod for riders, as well as a support for the back-bow.

Having described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the supporting-arm 

